1 Smush! Pat! Squish! Building sand castles at the beach is a relaxing activity on a summer day. So why would anyone want to make it into an extreme sport? People who build extreme sand sculptures think of going to the beach as more than a way to get a tan...they use it as a chance to create art and to compete with other sand sculptors.2 You have probably had lots of fun building sand castles, molding and carving piles of cool, wet sand with the hot sun on your back. And if you want to take a nap, you can relax and let someone bury you in warm sand. Playing on the beach does not require lots of special gear. You can create masterpieces with a bucket and a small hand shovel. However, extreme sand sculptors like to use more than buckets. In fact, they carry a whole tool kit to the beach to create their sculptures.3 Extreme sand sculptors often build big piles of sand using long-handled shovels. Their tool kit includes lots of smaller tools for sculpting in detail. These include brushes of all sizes, hand trowels, knives, and files. Clever sculptors also borrow tools from the kitchen, like a cheese slicer and a pastry knife. Serious sculptors carry their equipment in a special bag. And you can be sure that they have lots of drinking water and sunscreen in there, too, to protect them. They approach their contests with planning and precision.